


Knight's Duty

by coolbreezemage



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22381234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbreezemage/pseuds/coolbreezemage
Summary: The Professor sends Dimitri and Ashe on a mission together, and Ashe is determined to be the best knight he can be.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53
Collections: Those Who Drabble in the Dark





	Knight's Duty

**Author's Note:**

> About a week late, but I started this for the "taverns & inns" prompt for Those Who Drabble in the Dark, so, here's some Ashe!

Why the Professor had chosen him of all people to accompany Prince Dimitri on this mission, Ashe would never know. Well, that wasn’t quite true. He knew it was all about growing their bonds and ensuring that they would fight together seamlessly on the battlefield. 

But that did nothing to stop Ashe from fretting for nearly the whole of their first day on the road, imagining every little way in which he might humiliate himself or disappoint Dimitri.

Near sunset, after disaster had failed to materialize, happier thoughts began to creep in. His fears flowed interspersed with indulgent fantasies of how he might serve Dimitri as well as the knights in his books did, that he would prove himself worthy and Dimitri might ask him to fight at his side ever after...

“Watch, from the trees!” Dimitri cried out, jerking Ashe from his imaginings just in time to see the three men charging at them from the side of the road. 

Later, Ashe would bless every moment of Ingrid’s training that meant he did not fall from his horse when it startled, that let him raise his bow and put an arrow through the throat of a bandit who'd raised an axe behind Dimitri's head.

Dimitri dispatched the other two highwaymen without ceremony, and moments later the two of them were alone again on the road, wary but unharmed.

"Well fought, Ashe," Dimitri said. "You saved me a bad injury there, if not worse." When they finally arrived at the inn just past nightfall, Ashe was still dizzy and warm with the praise. 

Ashe insisted on tending to the horses while Dimitri secured their beds for the night. When he joined Dimitri at the table, a plate of meat pie and a mug of some sort of beer waited for him. Ashe sipped his carefully as he ate; it was bitter, and strong. Dimitri drank his without any expression, almost as if he didn’t taste it at all. 

“I wasn’t able to get us a room,” Dimitri said grimly, “We’ll be in the public hall.” And of course he wouldn’t use his status to take a room from someone else, even if the Professor had not insisted they keep a low profile.

“That’s all right!” Ashe said. It was worlds better than some of the sleeping arrangements he’d had to make do with on the streets.

Dimitri remained tense and unhappy.

“Is… it all right?” Ashe asked.

Dimitri took a breath. “I would prefer anything but. My nights are… not particularly restful,” he said. Ashe could tell the admission cost him a great deal. Later, perhaps, he’d be able to sort out the feelings that clenched his heart. For now, his prince needed him. 

“I understand,” he said. And he did. He’d had enough soul-rending nightmares of his own to last a lifetime. An idea struck him, and before he could think he’d blurted out, “We could stay with the horses. It’s not too cold out…” He bit his lip, suddenly all too aware of who he was talking to. The warrior princes in his books had never objected to such things, but that didn’t change the fact that it was hardly dignified. 

Dimitri shook his head. “I wouldn’t subject you to that.”

Which, Ashe thought, wasn’t a refusal for his own sake. Or truly a refusal at all. “It’s not a problem! And it’s not unusual either. Paranoid merchants like to sleep with their stock.” As he’d learned to his shock on the few regretful occasions he’d tried to take a few precious things from an inn’s stables to sell for food. 

Dimitri sighed. "Then I thank you dearly for your indulgence."

Warmth whispered through Ashe’s chest, pride and protectiveness and a deep, deep desire that Dimitri might have his pain lessened though Ashe’s service.

“It’ll be like Prince Simon and Sir Matthias, when they had to camp out to catch the assassins chasing the King.”

“Ah, the assassins who dressed as actors but gave themselves away by not knowing any plays?”

Ashe grinned. “I didn’t think anyone else knew that one! Even Ingrid didn’t.”

Dimitri ate a forkful of pie with significantly more cheer than before. “The library in Fhirdiad had two versions, all the way at the back of the shelves. I read it because Dedue liked it.” 

They passed the rest of the meal deep in memories of such tales. By the time they finished and headed out to the stables to find some private place to rest, Ashe was very grateful the Professor had sent him. If being a knight meant moments like this, well, that was something worth any number of nights in the stables. 

**Author's Note:**

> I *might* continue and expand this idea if people are interested. I had a few ideas in the past about an Academy-era Dimitri/Ashe mission...


End file.
